Top 8 Report at Oceania International Championships

Hello, this is Takuya Yoneda. You might not know me yet so I’ll do a quick introduction of myself. I am from Japan and I’ve been playing Pokémon TCG since 1996. My recent tournament results were Winning the 2016 Japanese National Championship, and making top 32 at the 2016 World Championship. I also belong in a Japanese team called team Torchic--it’s mainly a group of good friends getting together playing Pokémon TCG for the most part.

Table of contents

Introduction

In this report, I’ll be writing about the Oceania International Championships that happened back in March. First, I’d have to explain why I’ve decided to participate in the Oceana International so I will briefly explain why. The primary reason was to catch Kangaskhan in Pokémon GO. Perhaps some of you guys might be thinking “what the heck are you saying,” but Pokémon GO has regional exclusive Pokémon and last year and Worlds and at London’s International, I was able to catch Tauros and Mr. Mime so at the moment the only generation 1 Pokémon that I hadn’t caught was Kangaskhan. If the International is at Melbourne I can also catch Kangaskhan and I can have the opportunity to tour around Melbourne as well so I’d decided to participate in the Oceana International. (Some people might not know this so I will briefly explain; since Japan has a different World’s invite structure from the rest of world so we cannot gain CP, we can only get the prizes and money by participating.) Since the Melbourne Tournament was right before our 2nd Sun and Moon expansion’s release date, I was not able to practice for the Japanese tournaments and that was another reason for me to determine to participate in it as well.

Preparation

Once I decided to participate I figured that I have to do some research about the current meta but since I had a tournament in Japan 2 weeks before Melbourne, I wasn’t able to get much preparation time so I basically test play some on PTCGO mainly and test played some matches with my teammates for practice. Since Sun and Moon was just released outside of Japan, I didn’t know much about the meta so I used the results from Anaheim and Sheffield regionals as a reference.

In Anaheim there was Solgaleo/Lurantis, and there was one of the most popular Decidueye/Vileplume decks making its appearances. In reality, Solgaleo/Lurantis was very strong against many of the current meta decks but it lacked consistency so I thought it was not a deck to bring at an event. However as for Decidueye/Vileplume, it wasn’t heavily played at a recent Japanese tournaments but it was an archetype that existed so I didn’t had to practice much against it either, so I’ve decided to try several new archetypes instead.

The first I made was a straight Solgaleo. Even if they attach a Fighting Fury Belt, you were able to one shot all the EXs and with Professor Kukui you can even one shot the GXs as well so I started from that perspective. Unlike Japan, there was no tool removal card, so not getting Weakness Policy discarded was thought to be a solution for the fire weakness. Also since it was strong against meta decks like Gardivoir, Darkrai, Mewtwo, and Lurantis, it was one of my first candidates for deck choice. Here’s the list.

Energy (12)

With Solgaleo’s ability and Cobalion’s Quick Guard attack you can stall some time and it also had a nice synergy with Scizor’s attack, but in the end even with Weakness Policy it was still difficult against Vespiquen with Flareon and Volcanion and with the return of Gyarados in the meta, which also had a hard time against it, I decided to opt out.

The next deck I considered was Lurantis. Combining Flareon and Lurantis will make it strong against Decidueye decks that are going to get popular and by adding Espeon-GX I thought it’ll give an advantage towards decks like Mega Mewtwo and Volcanion, but since the deck plays several stage 1s, it was inconsistent so I also ended up opting out.

In the end, the last one I considered was Decidueye. I’ve played Seismitoad/Decidueye from practicing for Japanese tournaments so I knew how strong Decidueye was and it was clear that it was one of the top level GXs from the Sun and Moon expansion so I decided to make this for ROS-on format. Since you can’t play Seismitoad-EX, at first I thought of combining Decidueye with Mega Beedrill. Since it already comes with the Beedrill-EX that can remove tools I figured the Garb match up would get better. Also with Mega Beedrill’s attack and Feather Arrow, you can adjust yourself when you want to knock out your opponent’s Pokémon easier, and it had a nice synergy and seemed strong, but I didn’t have much time and Mega Beedrill cards were expensive on PTCGO. So I couldn’t get the cards and I wasn’t in a situation where I could adjust the deck to the point I felt satisfied so I decided to opt out. In the end, the way the deck became more like a Decidueye-tech was from using Seismitoad/Decidueye as a core then wanting to fight while disrupting my opponent so I was researching Pokémon that had a good synergy and concluded with deck list that I ended up using.

I would like to return to the topic about meta predictions here; so far all the decks that I’ve mentioned above all have the common trait that they have a bad matchup against Volcanion. However, looking back at the past 2 Regionals I’ve noticed that Volcanion hasn’t gotten to win much and it also has a hard matchup against Mewtwo/Garb and Yveltal so I predicted that there won’t be many played. However it seemed like there were others that were thinking the same way as I was thinking and it seemed to be that it was going towards that direction as well so I also had the thought that Volcanion can be a good play instead. In reality, I have brought Volcanion into Australia as one of my decks but I had more fun playing with Decidueye and I also felt comfortable with it so I chose Decidueye in the end.

The basic way to use the deck is to determine which tech card to use based on your match up to stall sometime in order to set up Decidueye and put damage on board, and by attacking with a Decidueye that have a large HP in the second half of the game, you take the prize trade into your advantage. To explain why it’s straight Decidueye and not Decidudeye/Vileplume is because straight Decidueye has a better winning ratio in the mirror match, factors like they don’t play VS Seekers and have harder energy management, and sometimes there are scenarios where the deck relies on luck so it made me think that straight Decidueye was better.

Energy (7)

Pokémon

Decidueye line 4-4-4Iit’s the main attacker and having multiple Decidueye out is strong, so considering it getting prized, I can’t think of scratching off any of the line. 2 Decidueye doesn’t have much pressure to dominate the board so trying to build 3 Decidueye every game was something I have as a goal. Since Hollow Hunt is a very strong GX attack I didn’t wanted to think of throwing other GXs in it.

Hoothoot 1 Since there is no Seismitoad-EX, it does a similar role and helps you stall out sometime. The strength of this Pokémon is that it is a non-EX Pokémon. Since the only non-EX attacker in this deck is Mewtwo, whenever you decide to lock your opponent you can force them to do the odd prizing and depending on how many Decidueye you have built, you can snag the win also. The fact of having the option to be able to lock your opponent by having a Ball card and a Double Colorless Energy seems to be a strong point to look. Unlike Seismitoad, there’s no damage but you can trap a damaged Pokémon that retreated that have no energy as well, so dealing no damage can be seen as a positive thing also. It can be used often against decks outside of Vileplume Decidueye, but it comes in handy to match ups like Darkrai, Volcanion, Rayquaza, and decks that plays Garbodor.

Beedrill-EX 1 It’s the only Pokémon card that can remove tools outside of Ratatta. While testing, I’ve noticed that having Beedrill-EX in the deck against Garbodor decks made a significant change in the winning ratio and since there were going to be significant amount of Mewtwo/Garb, Yveltal/Tauros/Garb, and Darkrai/Garb, I decided to play the card. It also has a nice synergy with Espeon-EX by removing their spirit links, and it also has a good synergy with Hoothoot by removing their support Pokémon's Float Stones. Simply Lysandering and removing their Float Stone allows you to stall for a turn and forces them to burn their resources, with the bonus of being able to get it back with Revitalizer is also a strong synergy.

Trevenant-EX 1 This card is to prevent your opponent from retreating. There are games where you can win by preventing your opponent from retreating and just using Feather Arrow, by taking advantage of the fact they can’t remove tools and you can even lock a Garbodor with a float stone and knock it out so I decided to play it. Also with a grass energy and Double Colorless Energy it can swing for 70 damage which is surprisingly strong and unlike Hoothoot, it’s 180 HP so even if you start with it, it won’t be knocked out easily. Just like Beedrill-EX, you can get it back with Revitalizer so being able to ambush your opponent is a strong option. I think I was able to utilize it efficiently like 3 times total so if I could play again with the same format I would change this card.

Espeon-EX 1 You can devolve your opponent with 1 any energy. It’s a Pokémon that allows you to end the game early for evolution decks against like Mirror, Lurantis, Eeveelutions, Vespiquen Zoroark, Solgaleo. It’s quite difficult to determine when to use it against Decidueye/Vileplume since Vileplume goes back into the hand as well, but it’s still recommended to use when you’re knocking out a Decidueye with energy or determine after counting how many Revitalizer they already have used.

Mewtwo 1 It’s a tech card for Mega Mewtwo. Even if you can’t play Hoothoot, it is quite of big basic Pokémon which is a nice. In the actual tournament I didn’t get to face any Mega Mewtwo or Espeon so it didn’t do much but been able to attack to a non-EX with non-EX pokemon and it was the only basic pokemon that allowed me to put damage output on board so surprisingly I was able to utilize it efficiently.

Shaymin-EX 2 A draw card that no needs to explain. The reason why there are only 2 is because if you play a 3rd Shyamin on the the bench, it gets on the way (Generally 2 Shaymin and 3 Decidueye and something else is the ideal setup), considering Shaymin getting prized, I decided to play 2. Often times there are times where I Sky Return to keep pokemonthe energy and do some damages on board also.

Trainers

Sycamore 4 Since the deck have Super Rod and Revitalizer, there is no problem dumping some Pokémon so no problem running 4 in the deck.

N 3 Since you want to stop your opponent, it is a card that won’t have problem having 4 in the deck, but I wanted to have thicker Trainers’ Mail to give consistency early game, so in order to create a space in the deck I decided to play 3. If the meta is heavy Vileplume Decidueye, considering to play 4 of it wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

Lysandre 2 Since there’s Battle Compressor in Japan, there are lists in Japan that only plays 1 in the deck, but since it have a nice synergy with Hoothoot, Trevenant, and Beedrill along with the reason the I want to have one in the discard early I decided to play 2.

Hex Maniac 1 It is mainly used against Decidueye, Volcanion, Gardevoir sts, Flareon. If you use it against Decidueye it is almost like they didn’t had a turn so it is very strong. Even against Volcanion, by playing it with Hoothoot and using its attack Proclaim the Night could give you the chance to survive for a turn from the non EX Volcanion.

Team Flare Grunt 1 Just like Seismitoad Crobat had one; it can’t be weak to discard their energies while you’re locking them. Since Decidueyes doesn’t play heavy amount of energies, sometimes there are scenarios where this could swing the match.

VS Seeker 4 By putting this card is what makes the difference with Vileplume Decidueye. Speaking for the mirror match, if you can consistently use Hex Maniac several times, you could most likely win. By using Hollow Hunt GX to get Hex and VS Seeker allows you to get 2 turns of Hex Maniac so it is also nice.

Ultra Ball 4 No need to explain. Allowing you to get Shaymin, checking your deck, a card that is necessary to setup. Since Decidueye can only be searched with Ultra Ball, perhaps it may be wise to not overuse Ultra Ball sometimes.

Level Ball 2 Not only you can search for Rowlett and Dartrix, but allowing you to search for Hoothoot is a strong aspect. Because of that, not only that it makes easier to get pieces I need but I can also lock my opponent at weird times I wasn’t thinking also.

Trainers’ Mail 3 I need Forrest of Giant Plant early in the game, plus mid game on I need cards like VS Seeker and Revitalizer, so it is a card that is strong from early game to late game.

Super Rod 1 It is in the deck pick up some grass energies that were discarded from Sycamore, so only 1 in the deck. It was thought incase where some of the Decidueye lines or energies were discarded drastically, or to get Hoothoot for the 2nd time, it is a card that have a high efficiency.

Revitalizer 3 To get back Decidueye when it gets knocked out or to get back the cost from Ultra Ball which it have a lot of uses in different scenarios. It felt strong because I played 2 and not just 1 so if you play more of it, you might feel it stronger.

Float Stone 3 Since the deck does not play a lot of energy, and to avoid paying the cost to retreat, along with the deck’s characteristic and often times there are times where you set up a Decidueyes with no energies attached, to avoid getting trapped, I decided to play 3 which is little extra.

Grass Energy 3 Since I play Super Rod it is the minimum count. If you bump it up to 4, your consistency for the attachment for the turn will increase so it might become easier to pilot it if you bump it up.

DCE 4 Most of the Pokémon’s attack cost fulfills with it so no choice except running 4.

Side Board Considered

Lugia-EX I was originally thinking that if I were going to attach an energy, it’ll be stronger to attach it to Decidueye, however considering the fact that it allows you to put damage on board with 1 Double Colorless and with 4 energy it can do 150 that it was one of the cards that made me reconsider after the event. If I would’ve replaced Travenant, it probably made the Volcanion match up slightly better.

Tauros-GX An attacker that can attack for 1 Double Colorless. However, I see it as a strong card with Fighting Fury Belt and mainly as of GX attack wise, I think using Decidueye’s GX attack seems to be stronger in my opinion so I figured I won’t be using the Mad Bull GX at all therefore I decided to opt it out.

Mewoth 50 damage to anywhere. Before the tournament I’ve seen Vileplume Decidueyes playing so I was aware of it but I don’t think it was a pokemom that is worth attaching a valuable Double Colorless Energy so I opt it out.

Spinda 30 damage confusion for 1 energy. Confusion itself is effective against many decks so it had a potential that I wanted to try it out. The problem was that I noticed the existence of this card after the tournament so if anyone had the opportunity to play with this deck, I’d be interested to know the feedback.

Weakness Policy I tried it for the Vocannion match up but it didn’t really do much so opt it out.

Exp. Share It’s strong against Darkrai and Volcanion, but I would have to play multiple or else I won’t draw into and there are times where Decidueye can get stuck so I felt like it was difficult to use so I decided to opt it out.

The Matchups

Now I would like to talk about the match up with the decks in the meta, since I haven’t got to play enough to make the ratio into numbers, I will simply use “favorable” “50/50” and “unfavorable” to describe the matchups. (First of all, ratios like 60/40s are ratio that usually that can’t be trusted anyway so that’s another reason I rather not make a ratio in numbers.)

(Favorable)

Vileplume Decidueye if you go first, you have a guarantee time to start set up so it is favorable, if you’re going second, your opponent needs to set up Vileplume and Decidueye at same time so in terms of consistency, we can judge that we have an advantage here. Since the use of Hex Maniac is important, it is important to know the timing to use Hollow Hunt GX to pick them up. By using chain hexing it pretty much becomes like your opponent had no turn. When you use Espeon EX, you would want to count how many revitalizer your opponent have used already. If there are some remaining then unless you can knockout several Dartrix or a Decidueye with energy because your opponent can use items the following turn so be careful there.

Mega Mewtwo You use Beedrill, Hoothoot or Trevenant against Garbodor to disrupt them. It is important to put 20 damage on Trubbish if you set up Decidueye first. If there is no Garbodor, Mega Mewtwo should be fairly countable with Mewtwo so you should win fairly easily.

Lurantis By utilizing Espeon EX and spreading the damage, you can take down their attackers. If they play Flareon in it is important to focus the damages on the Eevees.

Vespiquen/Zoroark/Eevees Since this deck also plays Falreon, it is important focus the damages to the Eevees as well. Other than that it is important to utilize Mewtwo and Dartrix for the prize trade also.

Gyarados It’s a deck that exist in the meta that is somewhat winning that makes me wonder. If you’re using Decidueye, it is very favorable that unless you dead draw you shouldn’t lose. Perhaps if it’s a Gyarados that can chain hex might be able to beat Decidueye.

Solgaleo Lurantis Espeon EX will become the key to this match up as well. It also depends on whether your opponent plays Kukui or not, but if they don’t Decidueye can survive Solgaleo’s attack. Other than that, just focus on utilizing Dartrix to put some damage is recommended.

Yveltal Garb if you take down Garbodor, it’s pretty much same as Mega Mewtwo so utilize cards like Beedrill, Trevenant and Hoothoot. Just careful not damaging too much the Tauros and keep in mind that they can Ninja Boy into Decidueye also.

(50/50) Darkrai If you go to game 3, most likely there won’t be sufficient time. It is quite of a simple matchup and I think Decidueye have a little advantage. I want to say the both decks have an advantage going first, but I think if Decidueye goes second, it have a slightly better win ration than Darkrai going second. However, finishing 3 games within 50 minutes seems to be too difficult so I decided to give this matchup a 50/50. To determine precisely where to put the damage from Feather Arrow is difficult that I wish I had Lugia in the deck.

Mega Gradevoir In order to take down a 210 HP Pokémon it requires setting up 3 Decidueyes. I was actually fortunate that the Mega Gardevoirs in this tournament played low count of Hex Maniac, but as the popularity of Vileplume Decidueye increase, the count of Hex Maniac will most likely increase and the matchup could lean towards unfavorable. They do also get affected by our Hex Maniac and Team Flare Grunt so finding the appropriate timing to use them is also recommended.

(Unfavorable)

Volcanion It’s the most unfavorable one out of all the meta deck I had in mind. As of the way to play against it is to first set up 3 Decidueyes then try to knockout the Volcanion that have energies in 3 turns as a goal. Then start to consider trapping one of the Volcanion that have nothing on it with either Hoothoot or Trevenant. Early game it is ok to give up some prizes because it is important to utilize N to make for your opponent to draw into an energy as much as possible. It is also important to figure out how many energy, float stone, switching cards, energy retrieval, Fisherman count they run in the first game as well. I also had the impression that this matchup could’ve been different if I had Lugia in the deck also.

Report

Now I’ll be talking about my battle report within what I remember from memory. Since I can’t remember the URL for the online pairings, I’ll be opting out the player’s name.

Day1 Round1 Darkrai WL Game 1 Managed to build 3 Decidueyes and put the damages all properly that I was able to win with no problem. Game2 Had the plan to win the game by drawing either Lysandre or VS Seeker from my last 4 prizes, but I was not able to draw either one of them, then tried to use cards like Shaymin or Trainers’ Mail but still wasn’t able to draw them either and eventually I just got pushed through and lost. At this point, time was already called so it ended as a draw.

0-0-1

Round2 Vespiequne/Zoroark/Eevees WW Game1 Since I was expecting Flareon from the start, I was focusing the Feather Arrow damages into Flareon and some eevees were discarded along the way so I used Hoothoot to adjust my prizes then used N to create a turn where my opponent couldn’t swing at me and I took down their attackers and won the game. Game2 Same as game 1, I focused my damage to Flareon while locking with Hoothoot then suddenly my opponent’s setup got weak so I just pushed through and won.

1-0-1

Round3 Gardevoir/Xerneas LWW It was the Brilliant Arrow Gardevoir. I knew about the existence of the deck but it wasn’t a deck that was heavily in the meta plus my opponent didn’t seemed to know how to properly pilot his own deck so I decided to learn how to play against it during the match.

Game 1 My opponent started setting up with Xereas until Brilliant Arrow can do 240 damage and lost the game. But I learned where to put the damage with Feather Arrow and noticed that Trevenant is relevant so I moved on to game 2. Game 2 I learned that if I deny my opponent from dealing 240 damage I can win so I decided to go after Gardevoir to creat energy shortage for the damage output. Since the only retreating source is Fairy Garden I was able to stall with Trevenant for 2 turns and built several Decidueyes and made my opponent to discard energies along the way and won the game. Game 3 Since I think there was probably like less than 15 minutes remaining, I decided to speed up pace more and played the same way I played game 2 won. Since my opponent was dead drawing it helped me close the game on time also.

2-0-1

Round 4 Mega Rayquaza WW Game 1 Since it’s Rayquaza I figured to let my opponent do their set up, then I’ll just trap something, then play a stadium to win, but my opponent dead drew so I was just locking with Hoothoot while placing damage on board till I realized that my opponent wasn’t able to draw anything until the end then he conceded.

Game2 I think my opponent drew slightly better than last time, but he was missing several stuff so I just trapped Hoopa with Hoothoot then placed damage with Decidueye and won. Since Rayquaza benches Shaymins early, that allows me to set up the damage early, so it felt like it was a good matchup.

Round5 Mega Gardevoir LWW I start to see familiar faces that I’ve seen at top tables, this time is a different Gardevoir, it’s the Despair Ray Gardevoir. Game 1 Was not able to set up well, and I don’t know if my opponent was being cautious about Vileplume or Hoothoot but he played VS Seeker to get back N into his hand on the first turn so I was thinking “ I see, I see” while playing. Since my opening wasn’t strong I was wondering what should I do, so I decided to see what cards are in my opponent’s deck and once I see that my opponent played like 2 Fairy Drops I lost the first game.

Game 2 Since my opponent was being super cautious to item lock, he wasn’t able to use the VS Seekers efficiently for Hex Maniacs and Lysandres, so I just set up a Decidueye and played Hex Maniac several times to win the game. I’ll say I also got lucky since 2 Fairy Drops were prized also.

Game 3 Roughly less than 12 minutes I want to say, we both began to play fast but my opponent’s Gardevoir began to take quick prizes and by turn 4 or 5 had 2 prizes remaining and I hadn’t taken a single prize. Maybe he was afraid of getting locked and dragged into a tie, he had a lone Mega Gardevoir discarding all his Pokémon with Despair Ray. But in the last turn 2 turns I managed to place 60 damage to Mega Gardevoir so with 3 Feather Arrow this turn and a Razor Leaf I was able to knock it out and won the game. I’m pretty sure time was about to get called so if my opponent had Pokémon on the bench, I don’t think I had enough time to take all my prizes on time. I don’t think I used Hoothoot that match but since my opponent was so cautious about it, that turned into my favor.

4-0-1

Round 6 Decidueye Vileplume WW Finally Vileplume Decidueye. I had the impression that top tables were mostly Vileplume Decidueye and Darkrai and finally got paired up against one. To tell you the truth, I had the match up fought before in my head but even counting the practice this is actually the very first time I am actually playing against it. Game 1 My opponent didn’t set up a Vileplume so I just used Hex Maniac and Feather Arrow and won the game. Game 2 Same as game 1, never saw a Vileplume set up and I just kept using Hex Maniac to win the game.

5-0-1 If they don’t set up Vileplume it’s clear that I have the advantage so I didn’t think I can lose the matchup. At that time I was thinking something weird like “maybe Vileplume doesn’t do much in mirror so they don’t even bother trying to set it up”.

Round 7 Darkrai LL Game 1 I just got pushed through and mid game I couldn’t hit a supporter and couldn’t even set up a Decidueye and when I had the timing to lock my opponent I couldn’t attach the energy so I just lost.

Game 2 In game 2 the same happens where I couldn’t hit a supporter mid game, and there was a turn where I had to play Forest but I didn’t so I got N'd then couldn’t find Forest so I was not able to set up Decidueye and lost.

5-1-1

Round 8 Gardevoir WW It was on the streaming table. There might be a video of it but I didn’t check so I’m not so sure about it.

Game 1 I think my opponent started with Hoopa. It seems like my opponent was dead drawing so I was trying not to play N, but since I was cutting some resources with Sycamore, I was getting afraid that my opponent might start to set up anytime soon, however my opponent never got out of dead drew so I was able to just push through it and win. I didn’t even know what deck he was even playing.

Game 2 My opponent played a Ultra Ball going first, but I’ve noticed that he searched for Shaymin with a not happy face so I thought both of his Hoopas got prized most likely and after my opponent used Set up, he was still dead drawing so I just set up my board and won the game.

Despite that I was on the monitor, it was just a lucky game for me so it ended really quickly.

Round 9 Darkrai Garb There was no reason to ID so I decided to play to stay for the Top 8.

Game 1 My opponent set up a Garb but I removed the Float Stone with Beedrill then I locked the Garb with Hoothoot and I even used Flare Grunt, but my opponent was able to consistently attach an energy so right when Garbodor was about to retreat I dragged out a Trubbish but my opponent was able to hit the energy to retreat, and on top of that I stopped hitting a supporter so I lost because of it. I misplayed very hard on the Feather Arrow placements and that cost me the game so it was something that I had to reflect back to fix my mistakes. It was ok for Garb to have 3 energies to retreat, but I should’ve let Garb have 80 damage on it so I can put it in the spot where even if it retreats, I can immediately knock it out.

Game 2 In this game my opponent manages to set up a Garb as well but it already burned several Float stones so it got to the point where there was no more float stones left and my opponent’s Garb became abandoned so I was able to control the game with not much of problem and won.

Game 3 As I expected, there wasn’t much time left and I still manage to set the board to win the game but neither of us were able to take our prizes on time so it became a tie.

6-1-2

First day result ended 6-1-2 with 20 points at 6th seed as of DAY1. Since there were a lot of players with 20 or 19 points I figured I’ll need 3 wins and 1ID would be the minimum require.

Day2

Round10 Decidueye Vileplume LWW Game 1 I started going second and my opponent set up Decidueye and Vileplume first, and since I had 3 Rowletts prized I was not able to set up a Decidueye and lost. Game 2 Since I started first, just as usual I used Hex Maniac mid game and just used Feather Arrows to win the game. Game 3 My opponent started with Beedrill and I started with Espeon then my opponent just attaches an energy and passes so I was just using Sycamore and not playing N to set up but I wasn’t able to evolve so I just end my turn holding Forrest in my hand, then Beedrill’s Pin Missile attack his Espeon EX for 160. At this point I give up on using Espeon , but there was not much I could do either so I just prepare my board a little then attach an energy to Trevenant and pass. The following turn, my opponent sets up a Decidueye and knocks out my Espeon then I promote Trevenant to the active but luckily Pin Missile only flipped 2 heads so I attached a DCE to Trevenant and hit for 70 damage. The following turn Trevenant was able to survive for another turn so I attacked one more time to knockout Beedrill, then the following turn my Trevenant got knocked out so I responded with N and Decidueye then eventually I was able to chain hex my opponent that I was able to finish the game to win on time.

7-1-2

Round 11 Decidueye Vileplume LWW It was on the streaming table against Mess. There might be a video of the match leftover so you can check it out for those who want to see the match. Game 1 My opponent goes first and sets up Vileplume and Decidueye and just push through me that I lost. 2 of my Dartrixs were prized so the moment Vileplume got set up and my draw was weak so there was nothing that could’ve done. Game 2 Since I went fist I did the usual pattern utilizing Espeon and Hex Maniac and won. Game 3 Since I was going second, I was just hoping he doesn’t get Vileplume out but seems like his hand clogged so it wasn’t able to set up much so I tried to set up without using N but since I can’t draw into Forest I can’t have a strong set up either, but I was able to set up more Decidueyes first and due to my deck’s structure, I was pretty much able to win fairly.

8-1-2

Round 12 Decidueye Vileplume WW If I win 1 more time I pretty much can guarantee for top cut. I think my opponent already had enough points to secure the top cut as well. I knew it was Decidueye Vileplume so I’ll just have to chain Hex as the usual plan. Game 1 My opponent starts and sets up a Vileplume, but since I can still evolve my Pokémon, I just took care of Lugia and Decidueye while chain hexing and won the game. Game 2 Going second. My opponent’s first turn, there’s Decidueye active and there are 3 Shaymins and a Decidueye and Vileplume on the bench, the ideal set up. Fortunately my opponent discarded an energy from Sycamore and I was able to set up 1 Decidueye. My opponent used Hollow Hunt to pick back the energy and begins to attaches them. Eventually the active Decidueye with energies knock out my active and gets a 2 prize lead on me, the following turn I knock it out with Espeon. Since Vileplume is going back to hand and the Decidueye can come back with revitalizer, it wasn’t the scenario that I wanted to go with Espeon but I had to do it in order to stop my opponent attacking with Razor Leaf. The following turn the second Decidueye with energy knock out my Espeon but he didn’t set up a new Decidueye so I N my opponent having Decidueye active but my opponent sets up a Dartrix then Ns me as well, but fortunately I drew into Team Flare Grunt, so once I see that my opponent attaches the grass energy into Dartrix, I removed off the grass energy from Decidueye. Because of that my opponent wasn’t able to attack so he begins to use sky return into my damaged Decidueye. I was able to knockout the Dartrix with energy before it evolve into Decidueye so I retreated the damaged Decidueye to Hollow Hunt and pick up Hex Maniac and other pieces to chain hex; so in order to protect my damaged Decidueye I have to chain and using a new Decidueye I was able to take my remaining prizes and I was able to win a close game.

9-1-2

Since I won 3 games against Vileplume Decidueye I just have to ID to secure my top 8. My opponent asked me for ID the following 2 matches as well so I was able to remain in the top 8.

Round 13 Darkrai ID

9-1-3

Round 14 Decidueye Vileplume ID

9-1-4

As a result I end up with 9-1-4 with 31 points on 3rd seed going into top 8. As meta prediction aside from not many Mewtwo been played it seemed like it was everything as expected, and the fact that I was able to face several Vileplume Decidueye and dodging Volcanions was nice. The problem was that my top 8 opponent was Volcanion so I was preparing by planning it in my mind. (Also while eating Angus Steak….)

Day 3

Top 8 Volcanion LL It might be better to see the video for the details about this game. I’d like to write about more about why I lost than the detail of the match itself.

Game 1 First, the hard reality that my Hoothoot was prized. There was a scenario early game where my opponent didn’t had a supporter but he got N from the prizes which it lead for him to start setting up. There were several times where I couldn’t draw into an energy that I was not in a spot where I was able to attack. I was trying really hard to set up the 3rd Decidueye but I wasn’t able to set it up. I removed a float stone that I shouldn’t have removed with Beedrill. And those were some of the reasons that I end up losing a close game.

Game 2 The main reason that lead to my loss this game was when I had a Mewtwo active and my opponent had 3 prizes remaining and he used Escape Rope and my mistake was promoting the Hoothoot as a wall, instead I should’ve promoted Shaymin. Hoothoot was the only card that would gave me the chance to snatch the game so by committing this mistake, my game became super unfavorable. During end game my opponent’s leftover resources were 3 energies and 1 float stone, and there was a Volcanion with Fighting Fury Belt attached but had no energies attached along with a Volcanion EX that had nothing attached to it. In the end I decided to Lysandre the Fury Belted Volcanion, but as a result my opponent had an energy in hand and even drew another energy from the prizes so I lost. If my opponent whiffed an energy for a turn, there was a possibility that the outcome could’ve changed and if I kept the Hoothoot and dragged out the Volcanion EX I could’ve won so I have in impression that it was a game that my misplays cost me a lot.

Conclusion

As a result I lost in top 8 but living in Japan I won’t get to experience such a long tournament, so personally it was a good experience to be able to participate at London and Melbourne.

Looking back at those decks, aside from not getting paired against Mega Mewtwo, seems to be the meta I expected to be and within that meta I didn’t really face particular deck that it was unfavorable in a special way either. I think that was one of the reasons that helped to boost the win ratio too. As of the deck, as I mentioned above, I felt like I should’ve played Lugia instead of Trevenant and I could’ve tried out Spinda also. As of Mewtwo, I didn’t get paired against Mega Mewtwo but a non EX attacker is necessary so there were times that it came in handy. If you can think of any other better attacker other than Mewtwo, I’d be happy to know. There aren’t any major changes I would do, but I still think that perhaps I could’ve bump 1 more energy to make it easier to draw into.

By the way, I was able to do the primary objective which was catching Kangaskhan and complete the Gen 1 exclusive Pokémon and return home safely.

Since Guardians Rising was recently released, I’ll like to introduce you guys with 2 more lists. The other day during April, there was a tournament that it was a 3 man team tournament (format was XY-SM2) and in that tournament, Team Torchic was able to get 1st and 2nd place. (I got 2nd at this tournament and earned my DAY1 invite to World Championship.) I’ll be leaving the deck list we used at the tournament down below so we would be happy if this could be used as reference for you guys. I would like to write another article at a different occasion, so I would like to explain more details about the lists on a different article, so I’d be happy if you guys are looking forward to.